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Monday, 23 November 2015

Should we save for our Child’s post-graduation?

Should we save for our Child’s post-graduation?

I grew up in an environment, where
everything was given to me on a platter. Being the only Child of my parents, I
could get whatever I wanted. My parents never asked any question or never even
shared how difficult it was to earn money. Even when it came to my studies, I
just had to study, and all the bills were taken care of. And now, when I’m
married, I’m expecting the same thing from my Husband, but somehow he is not as
coordinating as my parents. He asks, if this thing is really necessary for the
house to run, or is it a value proposition to buy.

I’m sure most of us can relate to
the story above even if we keep the gender aside. Everything was so simple in
those days. But now the times have changed. If I fend for all the whims and
fancies of my children, I won’t be able to fend for my retirement days and I
will have to look at them the same way, they used to look at me when they were
kids. And God knows, if they will do the same, what I did. And even if they
take care of me in my old days, this is not exactly the way I would want it. I
want to be independent.

There is one more important point
we are missing in the above conversation – Are we teaching our Children the
importance of money? I understand that in order to make our Children successful
in life, we need to give them best education. This will also make them good
citizens in future. But looking at the way the cost of almost everything is
increasing, how prudent it is to fund for your Children’s post-graduation also.
All I mean to say is that, yes if we are saving for Our Child’s graduation, is
it necessary to keep our retirement corpus/goal at bay and save for his/her
post-graduation also? Well, the Answer
is, No it is not. Your Child’s post-graduation should not come before your
retirement in the order of priority. By doing this you are not only
safeguarding your own future, but also his future. Because if he goes for an
education loan, then only he will understand the value of money, and this will
also help him becoming a Confident Individual as he will be funding for his own
education. God knows, he might also learn some financial nitty grit ties which
are seriously missing from our education system.

Charu
Hastir, CFPCM is founder member of www.theriteplan.com. Rite plan is an online financial planning
portal created to achieve a single objective of providing easy and Do It
Yourself Financial Planning to netizens. Rite Plan is wholly owned by Tikkun
Olam Financial Planning Services LLP. Please visit: https://theriteplan.com/index.php?route=common/home/